My first quilt finished & New fabrics

A few photos... I have finished my very first quilt, that I started as a New Year's resolution this January. I just love how weighty and kind of crinkly it is!Harry, my youngest, modelling.

(Somewhat reluctantly...)

I stitched some writing for the back.

Ermm... In the short time I have been quilting I seem to have developed a fabric addiction...

These all arrived in the last week or so. I like too many different styles of fabric, and have SO many ideas buzzing round my head - my skill levels and free time just need to catch up now!

I love these ones best

I didn't realise I had chosen so many spots!

And a few more random ones...

Now it's just a question of where to start next. I also need to make some cards... we celebrated seven family birthdays this past weekend, and I only gave 2 handmade ones - the rest were actually bought! I hadn't bought a card for literally years. Oh well, blame quilting.

Best Wishes Card

I wanted a traditional looking card for some friends of ours who are moving away, and used the sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You for the layout.

Materials were all scrap stuff I've had for ages, except for the red and cream fabric button which I just covered myself. I found some really nice and not too expensive metal buttons with the gadget for covering them on ebay.

Painfully slow quilting!

Piecing is fun, but the quilting bit is harder! I have been doing some wiggly quilting, with roses at each sash junction on the big quilt, and some in-the-ditch and big hand stitching on the squares. More wiggly quilting on the pillow. It is slow progress, and my fingers hurt from unpicking!

My Dad's Card

My Dad will be 60 on Monday!! He's too young to be 60! and he is actually the best Dad in the world.

I dug out some glittery stickers for his card - as per the challenge at Caardvarks. Still struggle with male cards though - not that he will mind in the least I don't think! I made it so the card opens out and stands up, and it is pretty big.

A bit more quilting progress

I went to my second quilting class on Tuesday - (not much sewing got done due to a power cut the whole time we were there!) but I was shown how to layer up the quilt parts and pin them, so today I did that with Lucy's quilt. I got the back made yesterday - with 2'' squares left over from the fabric I used on the front, making a border.I used duck tape to stick down the back, used Quilters Dream Poly Deluxe in the middle, and then got the top pinned on and looking nice and flat, though it was a bit tricky as I had to match it up with the pattern on the quilt back (I did it by sticking a pin through the top and making sure it came out in the right place on the backing.)

Hint: Have some 'Sticky Stuff Remover' for your floor, after you've taken off the duck tape!Also, I was happy to get two new feet for my sewing machine in the post today. I'd been worried I wouldn't be able to get them for my machine because it's a good 10 years old and not very fancy. I spoke to Toyota directly, and they were able to supply me with a walking foot, and darning foot, and at really good prices. So I had a go at the squiggly pattern I like, and sewing in the ditch - my first ever actual quilting!! It seemed to work out OK...

Kids' Crafts

My youngest son had his friend over today (who's Mum was poorly) - they spent a happy time stamping a Get Well card for her & making pictures. I was getting on with some quilting in the meantime, and Harry's friend was fascinated by the sewing machine. He wanted to do some sewing on it, and we compromised with the boys pushing the treddle under the table, while I steered the material (to make cushions) and yelled "STOP!" to them at the end of each row of sewing... They were MAJORLY proud of them, and even took their cushions with them on the school run to pick up their big brothers!

Another New Home Card

A friend asked if I would make a New Home card for her to send, so I made this one using the sketch at Mojo Monday. I also had a look through my sticker box, as the challenge at Caardvarks is to use stickers - a good challenge, as I usually forget I have them...

Pink scalloped card: Bazzill
Papers & Owl Sticker: K&Co Berry Sweet
Nestabilities Label 1 Die Cuts
Tag: Sizzix Die Cut
Letter Stickers: Making Memories

More Wonky Squares

A few more of my wonky squares (the younger kids were worried at first: 'Mum - they're not straight!') I'm thinking of alternating 18 of these squares with 17 differently patterned ones - we'll see.

Needle case, Embroidery and Quilt top

We have had to wait in all day for a delivery today, so there has been plenty of time for some crafting, as well as jobs!
A nice little 10 minute project that I have been meaning to do for a while - a needle case. (Our few needles have been stuck in a tatty piece of red cardboard for the past 14 years - my husband's Mum sent my husband off to uni with it, as part of a little sewing kit for him!)
I made a little pocket, put stiff acetate pieces in it to stiffen the covers, and sewed it shut, then added some felt. I like it!
I finished off the embroidery for Jack's pillow case back, the other day. I need to make my handwriting more regular next time I do this, because it's not quite as neat as I would like. Jack loves it though! I found some Amy Butler fabrics on Ebay the other day at quite a reasonable price, and they arrived today.Also today, the Kona Snow fabric that I have been waiting for arrived in the post, so I got to finish off the sashing on my quilt - I have finished my very first quilt top!!

Good girl

I was a good girl yesterday, and finally got round to washing (in phosphate free 'Ecover') all my new fabrics, and I soaked the pre-cut squares in cold water, and dried them on tea-towels over the radiators. Here they are all nicely ironed (and my laptop on which I was buying more fabric on Ebay!)

A new quilt & some embroidery

I wanted to make a bright wonky squares quilt (don't know if there is a more technical name?) These are the squares I've done so far last night and this morning. They look a bit wrinkly here for some reason - they are OK in real life.
I'm a bit nervous about turning up at my second ever quilting class (next week), and telling them I have started 3 quilts and a pillow already... but a square a month would just be too horribly, painfully slow!! I couldn't find any instructions for a wonky style squares quilt, so I just did this:

I started off with a central piece, then added on strips round the edge. (I cut uneven width strips from my fabric for the wonky effect.)I didn't measure anything, just made sure I added onto a perfectly straight edge each time:Making sure the outer edges are straight, and adding some more wonkiness:

Adding more wonky pieces, making a rough square each time:

I placed the square in progress over a completed square, just to check it is roughly the right size:I added the last frame, and then cut it down to a perfect square.

My 'temporary' quilting corner of the dining room... (dismal day outside)

I want to 'write' something on each quilt/pillow I make - here is the little rhyme I made up for my son Jack's pillow. I want to sew it into a strip made up of all the fabrics I used on the pillow front, and embed it across the back of the pillow case. (I found this 'Prym Aqua-Trickmarker' pen in Dunelm yesterday - like felt-tip, but disappears with water.)(I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this!)

New Home Card

I wanted to make a New Home card for some of our friends in America, and used the sketch from Card Patterns for it. The papers are from Cosmo Cricket Earth Love, and the die cut oval, house and cloud are Sizzix.

A few new fabrics

I had to go to the Post Office yesterday, and pay a hefty customs charge - I'd bought some fabric from America, and got my $ mixed with £ for the limit can you buy! Oh well, I'll remember next time. Anway, this is what I got - some more Moda Aviary for my triangles quilt, some Moda Mill House Inn for another quilt I'd like to do (though seeing the fabrics in real life, I'm not so sure about them), plus a couple of other bits. I still can't get on with any quilting yet though till my cream fabric arrives...

Little Girl Birthday Card

Harry has a birthday party today, and I needed a birthday card for his little friend. The Mojo Monday sketch was perfect for it.

Cardstock & Circle Punches: Stampin' Up
Papers: Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday
Number 4: Cricut Base Camp
Velvet Ribbon: Making Memories
Die Cut: Spellbinders Label 1

2 Sketches 4 You Birthday Card

I used the sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You for this birthday card (got loads of family birthdays coming up). The sketch used a tall card, which I normally find hard to use, but this came together pretty easily. (Except for cutting the circle window, which I had to do free-hand with a craft knife, because the card was too big to fit through the Big Shot.) It's great now I'm doing quilting, because it means I permanently have my sewing machine out!

Papers, Leaf die cutter, Stamp: Stampin' Up
Big brads: Making Memories
Scalloped lace: Ebay
Paper Hydrangeas: Prima

Wedding Card

The theme for this card is based on the Caardvarks Challenge - 'Weddings', and it also fits the CPS sketch, and DCM challenge to use a heart. I had out all sorts of cardmaking bits and bobs, but kept being drawn to the white things, so monochrome it is! I made sure there was plenty of texture and dimension, so hopefully it can get away with it.

Frames and corners: Melissa Frances
Embossed metal clip: Making Memories
Pearls & Ribbon: Ebay
Buttons: Charity shop!

A few bits

Got my stand-in Ebay camera this morning, so here is what I have been up to this past week...
I put the squares of Jack's giant cushion together. I'll quilt the top (not that I have even tried any actual quilting yet!!), and I also want to add some hand stitching around the smaller squares, I think. My Perle #8 Cottons arrived yesterday, so I'll use some of them. I started a new quilt too, using Moda Aviary triangles. I'm just going to have the same pattern repeated all over. I'm awaiting more of the Kaufman Snow material from America now though. It's annoying how ridiculously expensive fabric is in the UK - it's cheaper to buy from America even with postage. (Though if anyone knows good places to buy in the UK, please let me know.)

I'm going to America in a few weeks, and will be making sure there is plenty of room spare in my suitcase!I also made a bag, using the tutorial linked to at the side - the 1 hour bag. It actually took me an hour and a half, but I was on the phone for 40 mins of that. (Sewing machining and chatting at the same time!) I found the instructions are really good and clear, and I've not made anything like that before.